The interview, a typically entertaining piece by the late, great Russell Bulgin, presented a wry but sympathetic portrait of a driver who had finally, after much ducking and diving and knocking on doors, got his big break in F1 \u2013 albeit with an utterly terrible team, Andrea Moda. Indeed, just as the September issue of Car was going on sale, McCarthy was taking part in what would be his last grand prix weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Perry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/f1-spanish-gp-1992-perry-mccarthy-andrea-moda-s921-judd.jpg\")
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Perry McCarthy, Andrea Moda S921 Judd<\/p>\n
Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n
But there was still a glimmer of light. Perry had friends. Lots of them. Potential backers liked his \u2018can do\u2019 attitude and could look past the paucity of wins on his CV. Bulgin had been one of these in his previous capacity as sports editor of Motor\u00a0magazine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t back McCarthy because I thought he was spectacularly talented, the next Ayrton Senna,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI helped Perry because he was the only driver who ever rang up to ask.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael Schumacher<\/a> claimed his maiden grand prix victory at Spa that year. Lower down the news order was the widely predicted demise of the risible Andrea Moda equipe, following the arrest of team owner Andrea Sassetti on fraud charges. On first acquaintance with the all-black S291 car, McCarthy had quipped that all it needed was a set of brass handles to look like a coffin; when a flexing steering rack put him in the wall at Raidillon in practice, it almost fulfilled that function.\u00a0<\/p>\n This was the season where Williams<\/a> and Nigel Mansell laid waste to the rest of the field in the reactive-suspension FW14B<\/a>. Benetton was testing its own system over the course of 1992, but had been struggling to resolve the issue of air contaminating the hydraulic fluid, causing the car to behave inconsistently.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rather than put Schumacher in the reactive car before it was mature, and potentially give the whole idea the thumbs-down, Benetton assigned test driver Alessandro Zanardi<\/a> to do the majority of the development work. When Zanardi fell ill and was unavailable for a Silverstone test, team manager Gordon Message required a suitably daring last-minute replacement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Benetton introduced its reactive suspension on the B193<\/p>\n Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n McCarthy got the call and arrived the next day. As he described in a recent episode of F1\u2019s Beyond The Grid podcast, Perry was quick considering his lack of actual F1 experience \u2013 the Andrea Moda had completed but a handful of laps all year \u2013 but he made the mistake of consulting Schumacher for advice on how to go quicker.\u00a0<\/p>\n Well \u2013 no racing driver is going to give up their hard-won secrets of speed willingly, are they?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI asked Michael,\u201d said McCarthy, \u201c\u2018How do you drive the lap?\u2019 And he walked me through the entire circuit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The way Perry tells it, for the most part Schumacher didn\u2019t mention anything he hadn\u2019t heard before.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just said: Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Me too. Yes. Yes. Yes.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut then Michael said: \u2018And I take the Bridge corner flat out.\u2019 I said: \u2018No. No, no, no. I\u2019ve been trying that the whole time, but it just doesn\u2019t work.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStill, Michael insisted: \u2018I take that corner flat\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Schumacher<\/p>\n Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n From 1991 to 1993, Bridge was what fans of a certain vintage would call a \u201cbig balls\u201d corner, fit to be mentioned in the same breath as the Eau Rouge-Raidillon complex at Spa. For two decades or more the BRDC, which owned Silverstone, had struggled to manage the natural outcome of a group of cars arriving at Woodcote corner at speed, jostling for position; in the 1973 British GP, Jody Scheckter initiated a shunt there that accounted for 11 starters failing to see the chequered flag.\u00a0<\/p>\n Turning that corner into a chicane failed to work, and building another ungainly-looking chicane slightly upstream in 1987 also proved sub-optimal. That chicane was named Bridge but, in the major revamp of 1991, it became part of Luffield as the Bridge name transferred to a new corner, the is-it-or-isn\u2019t-it-flat right hander leading into short infield loop.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ironically, in definitively solving the Woodcote problem, Silvestone had created another.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Abbey, this largely flat circuit came to a slight crest before a dip as it passed under the bridge that gave the new corner its name. It had a largely blind entry \u2013 and was blind at the exit, since the track\u2019s new trajectory hugged the earth embankment on the driver\u2019s right.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where I\u2019m going to buy a ticket for when I come and watch,\u201d said Martin Brundle<\/a> at the launch, as reported in the pages of Autosport.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Benetton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/f1-san-marino-gp-1993-michael-schumacher-benetton-b193b.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/michael-schumacher-1.jpg\")
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![\"Andrea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/andrea-de-cesaris-jordan-191.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pat-symonds-race-engineer-with.jpg\")
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